Is Obama Really Moving To The Middle?

I would question that he is moving. He was always in the middle. More on that later.

The issue that matters now is whether his perceived move is undercutting his brand and actually making it harder for him to win. One thing is for sure. Obama and his top advisors made a calculated decision. First backing out of the public financing (I didn't hear much complaining from progressives on that one), then the FISA compromise -- on through death penalty, late-term abortion, reaching out to the faith-based -- and finally talk of "refining" Iraq policy.

That is a whole lot of adjusting in a very short time. They obviously decided to do this, and to do it all at once. They're not dopes. Why the rollout?

My guess is that they want to give true believers who provided his campaign with so much money and energy time to adjust. People should have seen this all along but, in their fervor, somehow they missed it. There is nothing radical or new about the substance of Obama's politics. He's a pragmatic centrist and he always has been -- even as president of Harvard Law Review, there he was, smack in the middle, holding the factions together. The best profile of Obama I ever read came out in May of '07 in the New Yorker. It was called The Conciliator.

Barack told us all the truth about himself. He said he's always been a Rorschach test, a figure upon whom people project what they want to see. He came right out and said that. And what has happened is that some activists with the policy inclinations of, say, Dennis Kucinich (that would be me) let what really is radical and new about Barack convince them that policy was part of Obama package (that would not be me).

What's radical and new about Obama is his person -- his youth, first of all, and the way he embodies postmodern fusion and inclusion in his very being. Also radical and new is the way he sees things, precisely because he has lived at the margins of various worlds all his life. He is uniquely detached and, at the same time, deeply empathic, able to understand all sorts of different people in all sorts of circumstances. In terms of character, there's never been a president remotely like him, except, yes -- Lincoln. Obama's already signaled his respect for a book called Team of Rivals, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Check it out if you don't already know that Lincoln spent his entire political career in the middle, holding factions together.

What disillusioned Obama supporters must come to terms with is this: Barack has always been serious, however unrealistically, about bringing Americans together -- evangelicals, bowlers, red states, whoever. That isn't just rhetoric. That is his real ambition, his transcendental ambition, and he is going to persevere along that path. He really is post-partisan.

That's a new politics, isn't it? Many of us, including me, aren't going to like a lot of what that will entail. It doesn't confirm what we already know and assure us that we've been right all along. But that's what "new" actually implies, isn't it?

Comments

[gusvidal]

IT LOOKSLIKE OBAMA IS AFTER BUSH'S ENDORSEMENT. HE MIGHT GET THAT BUT NEVER GET BACK THE NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS DREAMING TO BUILD A NEW AMERICA FROM SCRATCH BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THAT OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM IS ROTTEN BEYOND RECONSTRUCTION . THIS NEW GENERATION NEED TO BUILD A MOVEMENT OUTSIDE OF THESE FAKE REFORMERS OTHERWISE THERE ONLY BE DISAPPOINTMENT..

[Playinjured]

You should run for prez. I won't support you but you should run.

[lafrance]

I live in Illinois and always knew Obama to be a somewhat progressive but, not a hard core ideological progressive. He is known to sample ideas from all schools and blend them into his. He was known as a pragmatic progressive. He always stated where he stood on guns and did not change it like reported. Same with Iraq. Same with his positions.
The fact is that people always hear what they want and not what is. And fail to check into a candidate's positions. They just assume based on what they chose to hear.
What did not help is the media's laziness in never fact checking anything. If they simply used google and spent a half hour of their precious time they would have known Obama has been consistent. But, that was too much work for them and therefore set off a firestorm due to false reporting and their laziness.

[intelliwoman]

Unfortunately, the problem is that so may people were mesmerizrd by the Obama cult of personality, and, true, the media did not investigate him and his positions as they did other cadidates, and if they did THEY WERE CALLED RACISTS BY OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN FOLKS.

Also, if you paid attention to what he said, and looked at the position papers on his web site from the beginning, it was mostly all rhetoric, with no real substance. It still is. Nowhere on there does it say he is against gun control, or for the government spying on the American people. What WAS on thre, UNTIL HE DECIDED TO FLIP FLOP, was his pledge to take public financing.

Sit down folks and get used to it. because you didn't pay attention, you are now stuck with an anti-abortion, gun toting, constitution dismantling, arrogant racist.

[ATL78]

You obviously didn't read or pay attention. His campaign published an entire book of his policy proposals. They may have been above your head...

And it wasn't that the media were called racists. The media (and probably you) went with the "he's all hype" headline daily. That led many (like you) to actually absorb those things as facts. He was never all hype and laid out his positions before running for POTUS (Audacity of Hope.)

ON GUN CONTROL:

"Obama also favors commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. He supports closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. He also supports making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets. "

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/urbanpolicy/#crime-and-law-enforcement


ON GOVERNMENT SPYING:

"Barack Obama opposed the Bush Administration’s initial policy on warrantless wiretaps because it crossed the line between protecting our national security and eroding the civil liberties of American citizens. As president, Obama would update the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional Intelligence Committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law."

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/pdf/HomelandSecurityFactSheet.pdf

ABORTION:

"He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision in that case."

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/womenissues

[CanadianAmerican]

you give "intelli"gence a bad name

[Playinjured]

Flip- flopping on public financing is hardly a reason to throw a candidate under the bus, let alone Obama. I question the continued denial of Obama's positive influence on America's next generation. None of Obama's opponents capture the attention of America's youth like him. Why isn't that the most important thing to you? Public finance reform is. The same public finance that limits Obama's ability to raise important campaign funds that would clearly play right into the hands of John McCain. I honestly am not sure what other accounts you mention that are verifiable. However, it is only fair that you formulate your own opinions and support the candidate of your choice. But please, save the namecalling for your next visit to the ballpark. It really only speaks volumes to the caliber of your own character. Have a great week.

[Playinjured]

It would be wise for the public to desire and require that fact-checking from the media. Surely if the public wants it, the media will deliver. They don't want to lose ad revenue so, if Americans refused to settle for anything less than exhaustive reporting and thorough fact-checking from their media, their media would oblige. But, unfortunately......

[julianne]

As we drive down the street or read the net I experience a redefining of who and what we've become as a people. That we are now an acquiescent people. That we are not the same or anything near what we could have been. That we've been colonized and our political and economic culture downloaded into the hands of a minority of historically evil, pathological private interests who have neutered us intellectually and institututionally to destroy what was once our Constitutional Republic. The toxic, generic, stressed out hell-hole that passes as economic and social culture. No great enterprises for our posterity and no greater common purpose. The government can now spy on my children and bring them to trial and incarcerate them - not only vague national security but actual criminal prosecutions. After what we've witnessed, what fool would give that power to the traitors in this grotesque administration? Many of us think that we will "change" with Obama and can forget aggressive war, massive war profiteering, illegal imprisonments and institutionalized torture, the corruption and theft of our finanical base, raping and murdering children, not investigating an attack on New York City, et al. Obama apparently thinks it's a good time to make friends and influence people rather than cut the knot and save our nation. Alot of his supporters believe "he will do all the right things Later." But it NEVER happens like that.

[Steamboater]

"People should have seen this all along but, in their fervor, somehow they missed it."

So in the end, Obama was never really who everyone thought he was. "Change" turns out to be not much at all. Don't be surprised if he picks a right-wing dem as his running mate either. Of course, Obama will call him or her "middle of the road, a centrist but we've seen that the middle of the road for Obama runs off to the right.

[Gma11]

It's a change to a higher level of consciousness that transcends and includes the dualities of the previous level. Those of us stuck within the current paradigm literally can't see and understand it. We're trapped in our present consciousness. And we personally get a lot out of our partisanship! It makes us feel ALIVE and RIGHT!

Einstein once made a statement to the effect that no problem can be solved with the same consciousness that created it. That's what we've been trying to do for years. And it doesn't work!

Obama's integral consciousness is exactly what our nation needs. Just as the modern, rational, Enlightenment consciousness of our Founding Fathers was exactly what our nation needed 200+ years ago (when the consciousness of most of the nation was pre-modern).

[ProudLiberalDan]

Naive nonsense.

What we need is someone who will literally rescue America from the forces of conservatism and neoconservatism.

[Playinjured]

Q's: Can we as a nation stop arriving to conclusions based on party ideals? Is that something we can get away from while contemporaneously maintaining the principles we deem so important that they become standards for party affiliation? Is it conceivably possible that Obama is making his decisions with motivations that abandoned previous politicians? Is "change" defined in the shift of control of the white house from one party to the other? Although I am not the owl licking a tootsie pop in that commercial, I think this is fitting: A: "The world may never know"

[Steamboater]

"People should have seen this all along but, in their fervor, somehow they missed it."

So in the end, Obama was never really who everyone thought he was. "Change" turns out to be not much at all. Don't be surprised if he picks a right-wing dem as his running mate either. Of course, Obama will call him or her "middle of the road, a centrist but we've seen that the middle of the road for Oba,a runs off to the right.

[jazzman]

If Obama is a flip-flopper, he is a size 8 flip-flopper. John McCain is a wholesale size 18 - 20 flip-flopper. McCain's flip flops are so big that Shaquille O'Neill couldn't fit into them.

[SatanicPanic]

He doesn't have to be perfect, but he has changed his position on FISA from the one he held in the Primaries. It's not projecting to say that, it's based on what he said. He's dimished my enthusiasm by a mile with that one.

[nomobull]

if one issue is all it takes that says more about you than him

[Sketchartist]

The U.S. Constitution is not some mere "issue".

[lafrance]

I agree with nomobull,
this is what is called a fair weather supporter who bases everything on one issue out of many. expects to agree 100 percent with a candidate or abandons them.

[MrsGreebers]

IF there ever were a single issue worth losing an election for, this would be it.

[JasonEverettMiller]

He didn't change position. The bill during the primaries was a different bill. This bill restores enough court review that he felt comfortable with the telecom immunity provision. He never said he wouldn't vote for the legislation itself, despite working to get immunity stripped. I understand that you don't get how the two bills differ, but his explanations have made sense to me, even I don't agree with the underlying decision. He doesn't need to march to my drummer to earn my respect, only his own.

[Playinjured]

His position didn't change at all. The legislation did. He still isn't 100% percent comfortable with the way things are spelled out now but because the intelligence act is wrapped in the rhetoric of our current president, real security measures would be compromised and our current president doesn't really care about that evidently. What exactly did you hear him say in regards to the FISA issue during the primaries that conflict with his current position?

[jgfox]

I would question that he is moving. He was always in the middle. More on that later”

That represents a True Believer.

George Orwell developed the concept of “Doublethink” … a trait that Mr. de Zengotita fullly displays.

“Doublethink is the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs” Wikipedia

It is clear that Obama has changed his positions to move to the center. It is a well calculated, intelligent decision by an extremely able Politician.

What amazes me is the need for Obamites to deny reality and call it …

“Refining”, “Adjusting”, “Retuning”

They have indeed changed and will probably change again based on polling data.

Can you spell “Bill Clinton”? In fact, he is co-opting Hillary’s positions.

For the first time, I now understand his slogan,

“Change you can believe in!”

I believe, I believe.

For Obamites, however,

“Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia” and “Obama hasn’t changed his positions”

Princeton Junction

[jeg]

I find it amusing that people claim Sen. Obama is running towards the middle "now that he's the nominee", by restating opinions that he's on record as having over a year ago.

My only conclusion is that most people on the far left never bothered finding much out about him during the primaries.

[Zogtastic]

It *would* be Doublethink if people believed he is *moving* and has *always been* there at the same time.

But no one is saying that. You misread. Mr. de Zengotita, in the sentence you quoted, quite obviously said that he questions the notion that Obama is moving to the center (as in, he doesn't agree with it... he challenges it) and instead believes he always was in the center.

[Steamboater]

"It is clear that Obama has changed his positions to move to the center. It is a well calculated, intelligent decision by an extremely able Politician."

Intelligent? Then where is the core of Obama's beliefs? What does he stand for if he changes his positions on FISA etc? Is there a political conscience there? What are his supporters supposed to think? Yes, his position on 'ending' the war in Iraq never changed. He never commited to bringing all the troops home by even 2013 and said we would keep troops (residuals/troops/schmoops; it's all the same) in Iraq to fight terrorism--so much for ending the war there ). Obama will NOT end the war in Iraq. There'll be a photo-ops of some 'combat troops' coming home but we're there to stay and those of you who BELIEVED him will be more than disappointed if he wins the presidency. Neither McCain or Obama will end it. It's his position on FISA though that now mainly disgusts. I wonder what Hillary Clinton thinks about that.

[Gma11]

LOL!!

[Playinjured]

Why is it so off-putting to some for a politician to adjust their positions on things? Ordinarily, people are allowed to adjust, modify and improve their decisions if the circumstances permit. When people drive cars, they never map out their location on the road before they are on it. And once they are on it, they adjust their driving according to the various obstacles such as other cars, moving and parked, pedestrians and sometimes even weather if you can believe it. People have to sometimes re-plot their journey without straying from their destination. My theory , in regards to the off-putting sensation felt by those like jgfox whose comment I am replying to, is that people have felt so betrayed so regularly by politicians that politicians are required, sometimes (some more than others), to be as flawless as diamonds if they are to be considered acceptable for this job. When politicians go back on their word for suspicious reasons, the public feels double-crossed and rightfully so. But this defense mechanism we manifest as a psychological reaction to irrationality from politicians can be a double-edged sword when it comes to the genuine politician because he/she must duplicate this rigid tightrope walk over all of the nation's current events without missing a beat or losing a supporter or it could blow in their face. Bottomline: Cut him some slack, Give him a break. We did it for the Bush's.

[ofbbg]

To answer the question - Nope, he's just lying again. You Neo-Coms can relax.

[nomobull]

stop posting to the mirror

[Incredulous]

The mainstream media propaganda machine is in overdrive! All we hear in the Corporate Media these days is about how Obama is a flip-flopper. Flip-flopped on this. Flip-flopped on that. The Center! The Center! It's like deja vu all over again. Reverend Wright! Reverend Wright! On and on and on and on, every pundit in punditry blathering on and on; Obama's losing his base, Obama's a disappointment, Obama can't win, Obama can't win, Obama can't win. Over and over and over. Brainwashing is a propaganda tool, and the Corporate Media is nothing more than the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. And John McCain's flip-flops and gaffs and transgressions? Who knows! All Corporate Media reports is "war hero", "war hero", "war hero", "war hero", "war hero". Get the picture?

[BLib]

Love your articles Thomas. You are one of the few that "gets" Senator Obama.

[ChristopherLib]

His pandering to the center is actually having the effect of making him look like the typical politician. From my perspective anyway. And frankly he's not as good at it as Bill Clinton was. Obama is great at giving a rousing speech, but in pandering on various issues and looking good while doing he's no Clinton. Obama is a better panderer than Kerry though, I'll give him that.

[nomobull]

oh please not that shocked to discover a politician running for office bs again.

[Gma11]

Pandering to the center?! Oh, my, that's rich!

[fairwitness]

Well, yeah, he may be "post-partisan", but he will vote to give the current Criminal Occupant and his co-conspirators a free pass for years of criminal activities that cut the heart out of our Constitution and our Law and moved us deep into dictatorship territory.

If that's the fruit of a "new politics", it starts with corruption and will come to no good end.

[ProudLiberalDan]

Exactly. This "post-partisan" nonsense is a naive recipe for disaster.

He may get my vote as the lesser of two evils, but I don't want any part of this naive "new politics".